Taiwanese and foreign students at National Chengchi University College of Social Sciences (CSS) agree -- it's good to talk.
"The response to the International Village Program has been very enthusiastic," said Kao Yuang-kuang (高永光), dean of the CSS, at the introduction of the school's new program to encourage more interaction between local and foreign students yesterday.
Students who have signed up will attend weekly discussions, which will also function as a student hangout.
Most foreign students at the CSS belong to two programs -- the International Masters in China Studies (IMCS) and the International Masters in Taiwan Studies.
Although both programs are taught in English, most of the students in those programs are also actively trying to learn Chinese.
"More interaction between the two groups will be beneficial for both foreign and local students," Kao said.
Yei Yah-chi (葉雅琪), a Tai-wanese student studying finance at Chengchi, agreed that it's hard for the two groups to meet.
"Some foreign students are active in clubs, but mostly we see them in passing around the campus. It's hard to make connections," she said.
"Practicing English is very important to me," she said. "But I also want to get to know student from other countries in order to learn from their experiences."
Mark Cheae, an IMCS program student from Korea, said "it's not easy to get to know the Taiwanese students."
"We go to different classes and we often have different sched-ules," he said, adding that he hopes the structured discussion sessions would lead to more cross-cultural friendships.
Dimitri Kokoromytis, a IMCS student from Greece, said the current low level of interaction between Chengchi's foreign students and Taiwanese students was due to more than their disparate schedules and classes.
"Taiwanese students are very hesitant with foreigners" Kokoromytis said. "I don't know whether this is because they are not confident in their English or whether there is a deeper reason. But unless they overcome this mindset, then the International Village Program is not going to do it."
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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